Friday June 10 is a day to remember. The weather played a dirty trick on hundreds of farmers from the villages that are part of the township of Capitanlargo. Producers had high hopes for this season as their fields were full with crops of beans, corn, peas, paprika, passion fruit, avocado, onion, tomato, and bananas. However, the crops were affected by the strongest weather phenomena producers have experienced in many years. A hailstorm struck this region of the province of Ocaña very hard.
The storm lasted over an hour and crushed the crops. After the storm, producers confirmed the degree of their misfortunes: the crops were completely lost, many animals died, and some houses and corrals collapsed. Eduardo Paez, a producer from the area, lost his pea, paprika, and corn crops.
His son, John, could not hide his grief and said that he had been contemplating the crops a couple of days ago and had thought that it would be one of their most promising harvests. "We were very happy, we had even hired workers to harvest the paprika," he said. One farm alone lost 3,000 plants of paprika.
According to Luis Eduardo Torrado, the legal representative of the mini watering district in Capitanlargo, hundreds of farmers from the villages of El Rosario, Paloquemao, El Potrero, La Rojas, Llanitos, Bellavista, and Gallinetas lost it all.
Given the situation, the farmers have asked the municipal, departmental, and national governments for aid as they, not only lost their crops, but also have many debts with the Agricultural Bank and other financial institutions.
Source: elespectador.com